*This podcast is sponsored by AXA Farm Insurance.

In this episode of the AgriFocus podcast, Breifne O’Brien chats to Sean Coughlan, CEO of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) about the move by a number of Irish cattle breed societies to vote ‘no confidence’ in the revised Euro-star evaluations.

Over the past two months, several of the Irish cattle breed societies have issued statements outlining they are to cease publishing ICBF Evaluations in their society sales catalogues.

The ICBF CEO confirmed that the economic values of the indices will be updated this summer and confirmed that Teagasc’s Dr. Paul Crosson is currently working on these updates.

Coughlan also discussed farmer issues relating to the star ratings of cows as well as the weightings of each trait in the composition of the overall figures.

The fortnightly AgriFocus podcast series takes a closer look at some of the key issues that directly impact on farmers, rural communities and the agri-sector.

Go beyond the headlines with our podcast series – AgriFocus – where we take a closer look at some of the key issues that directly impact on farmers, rural communities and the agri-sector.